Black Tokyo

Interracial J-pop icon, Crystal Kay, tours new album, but yearns to make it abroad!

[Via The Japan Times - Re:view Music] “There is still some racial thing going on,” claims a mild-mannered Crystal Kay. “Some people can’t accept there are a lot of foreigners out there, even in the industry.”

The 23-year-old is the original pioneer for interracial artists in Japan, and with eight top-10 albums under her belt, she is currently celebrating 10 years in the business with her first “Best of” collection and a tour.

Effortlessly glamorous in the office of her record company in Nogizaka in the Minato district of Tokyo, she is charming and modest about her impact on a J-pop scene that is increasingly discovering mixed-race acts.

Born to a U.S.-serviceman father and a South Korean mother, Kay debuted at a time when the J-Pop world was flooded with domestic acts little influenced by foreign music.”

Click here to read more of Robert Michael Poole’s article.

Here are a couple of Crystal’s videos: